Risk And The Soul

Sammie Vasquez, Unsplash

“Sometimes, the only safety in this world is found in taking the right risks. When the entire world seems to be at risk, safety may only come where we risk living in truth and following the call of our souls for the benefit of everyone. When the common institutions collapse and the usual cultural containers break, amidst all the conflicts and divisions plaguing the world, our role is to recover the true spirit for living and help reveal the underlying wholeness of life.”

- Michael Meade, “Awakening the Soul”

The least I can say is that I played it safe. I didn’t, and I made a lot of stupid mistakes, but I now have a simple life in an soulful place with the love of my life. Yes, I let a large inheritance slip through my fingers, but which is more important, a grand life or a life with simple beauty and meaning? I’ll take the latter, even if I miss the money that could help with the health challenges of old age.

My youngest brother was proud of “never having made a mistake,” something I could never claim, but he was watching his older sibling get into one crazy catastrophe after another.

We were a poor family that got rich by accident. Were were all a little wild and destined for “lessons.” I was a middle child who didn’t fit into either the older group or the younger one. I lived in…